BBHAC were comprehensively outnumbered in this annual
mob match held in Chingford on a very cold afternoon over the 7.5 mile
course.

With Orion fielding 68 athletes and BBHAC only 22 in
the 19 a side scoring match, it was never going to be easy to win the team
race against such odds. However Fintan Parkinson finished in a highly
respectable 4th place, while 16 year old Jessica Keene ran an outstanding
race to finish in 17th place and to be the first woman home, with Richard
Byford three places behind and the only other BBHAC athlete to finish in the
top 20.

These three athletes take the prizes in the BBHAC 7.5
miles championship which is held in conjunction with this race, with Sarah
Belaon our second lady home in 44th place.

On the handicap Steve Pairman held on to win by three
seconds from young Jessica, with Mike Simms only 10 seconds further back for
third, leaving Ian Taylor leading the Bennett Cup standings after three
events on 158 points with only 29 points covering the top ten, so all still
to run for !

If BBHAC are to seriously compete in these mob matches
they will need a bigger turnout of athletes across all age groups and
abilities as the days when a grand slam of winning mob matches was achieved
seems to be a distant memory.

Nick Brooks

17/11/15

There is no race report this weekend as there were no
club events, however we have summarised the news from the weekend.

BBHAC’s Dina Asher-Smith was named young sportswoman
of the year for 2015 on Friday night with heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill
winning the senior award. A great recognition for Dina becoming the first
British woman to break eleven seconds for the 100m and finally breaking
Kathy Cook’s long standing 200m record in China at the World Championships.

On the country this weekend BBHAC were in action
hosting the Kent League at Sparrows Den, and the U13 girls couldn’t have
given us a better start with a clean sweep, 1, 2, 3. Ellie Dolby made in
three wins in three, Morgan Squibb finished strongly for her best ever Kent
league result in 2nd and Jess Neal put in another great run finishing 3rd.
Rosanna Allan was a strong 7th, Daniella Harper 14th and Niamh Milmo 20th.
Great strength in depth saw Ella Smith 21st, Abbie Leeves 26th, Emily Davis
28th and Heidi Forsyth 32nd, Olivia Berry was 34th and Daisy Bates 50th.
With one match to go the U13 girls are looking likely to retain their Kent
title.

Rowan Fuss comfortably led the U13 boys home as he
also made it 3 wins in 3 while Sam Reardon had his highest finish to date
with a fantastic 4th and Justin Strover ran well in 13th. Thomas Penlington
continues to run well and finished 17th, Alex Sibley in 22nd, Jake Leng in
23rd. Eddie Sellar 30th and Ethan Kitteridge in 31st, Charles Winton was
36th and Nicholas Paddington completed the BB contingent in 40th.

Stephanie Taylor had a great run bringing the BB U15
girls home in a best ever KL finish of 5th. Grace Scopes also had a great
run mixing with the leading pack and crossing the line in 7th with Imogen
Meers 14th. A strong run saw Hanna O’Flynn finish 17th and Lily Tappenden
19th, Isabelle Bridge was 26th just in front of Gracie Horton in 27th with
Claudia Pickup 31st and closing the team in 32nd was Zoe Austridge.

Great packing from the thirteen boys who started the
U15s had Michael Eagling in 11th, Joe Georgiadis in 12th, Callum Myatt in
14th and Robert Suckling 17th. A few places behind, the boys packed out
again with Charlie Andrews in 21st, Keir Lundy in 23rd and Cameron Swatton
in 24th. Ben Gardiner was 33rd, Lewis Warren 40th and Lewis Stickings 43rd.
Matthew Pond, Seb Large smiling all the way around finished 54th .

Like the U13 girls, the U17 girls have dominated the
Kent league all winter and yesterday was no different as BB took 5 of the
top 6 positions. This is a fantastic set of results when you consider the
top spot was taken by current International and English schools XC champion
Sabrina Sinha from Cambridge Harriers. Not to be out done our own English
Schools Champions were 2nd and 3rd with Jess Keene and Yasmin Austridge
respectively. Amy Leach was a fantastic 4th, Kelsey Fuss a great 5th and
Jenny Allan, on her 1st run for the club this winter a fine 7th. Joanna
Clowes back running well again was 10th with Chloe Kibblewhite 13th and Mary
Guy 14th. A brilliant set of results and should prove good enough for the
U17 girls to retain their Kent title.

Charlotte Rhule ran well to finish 3rd in the U20
race.

Kent U17 boys are amongst the strongest in the country
and so Joss Barbers 4th place in his first Kent League outing this winter
was a fantastic result with Marco Arcuri 8th, Lewis Mills 13th backed up by
a 21st placing for Oscar Hussey, James Crawley 26th, Charlie Davis 31st and
Frankie Scrivener 33rd.

Bertie Harrington was our only BB in the U20 mens race
and did well finishing 10th.

In the senior mens race BBHAC fielded 14 athletes
finishing 3rd in the 4 man team event and 4th in the 12 to score event.
First man home was Andy Rayner in 18th place, followed by Dan Kennedy 24th,
Georges Vacharopoulos 30th and Fintan Parkinson 34th.

The next fixture is the London youth games at
Parliament Hill and the next club fixture is the final Kent league race at
Danson Park on 28th November.

Nick Brooks/Paul Austridge

3/11/15

Blackheath & Bromley enjoyed yet another an
outstanding day at the National Cross Country relays in Berry Hill Park in
Mansfield finishing second in two of the age groups as well as providing
some of the fastest legs of the day.

11.00am sharp and the first race was off. What we
lacked in numbers in the U20 girls age group, we certainly made up for with
quality as Niamh Bridson Hubbard stormed around the 2.5k course crossing the
line in a fantastic 3rd position and in doing so earning herself an England
call up. Niamh will now represent England in Burgos, Spain on 15th November,
a brilliant achievement. This performance proves how important it is to run,
whether in a complete team or not, as selectors look at individual
performances.

No scoring team for the U20 women meant all eyes were
on the two U17 girls team up next. Jess Keene, A team and Yasmin Austridge,
B team both had strong runs bringing the teams home in 3rd and 7th
respectively on the first leg (having run the 4th and 8th fastest times of
the day). Jess passed to Kelsey Fuss who powered to the front, handing over
to last years gold medallist Katy Ann McDonald in the lead. Katy would
surely have held onto first had she not been up against International Niamh
Brown from Aldershot who ran the fastest individual time of the day, and
just managed to pull passed BB, leaving us with a still superb team silver.
Meanwhile back in the second team Carlotta Weitzel had a great run handing
to Amy Leach in 8th place. Amy ran a determined leg clawing one place back,
finishing in a commendable 7th place and the first B team to finish.

Next up were our Uni boys (U20) and considering they
are probably concentrating more on their new campus surroundings to
socialise than to train, their collective team position of 20th was
excellent. Will Fuller (Loughborough) handed over in 5th, running the 7th
fastest time of the day, Richard Webb (Cardiff) had a strong run and holding
8th handing over to Thomas Desborough (Brighton) who ran his quickest ever
leg in Mansfield on the tough last leg.

A full U17 men’s team then took to the course and Joss
Barber had a great first leg in finishing 11th in fantastic company (running
the 14th fastest leg of the day). Marco Arcuri and James Crawley both had
strong runs combining to finish the same as the U20’s in 20th place.

The U13 girls have already had a very successful
season winning National Road Relay silver in Birmingham and they matched
this over the cross country course winning silver again. A fantastic lead
off leg saw Jess Neal finish 4th (6th fastest leg of the day) handing over
to Morgan Squibb who worked hard on her leg and gained one position handing
over in 3rd. Ellie Dolby took up the challenge on the final leg and despite
gaining one place and running the 5th fastest leg, the team had to settle
for a fantastic silver.

The B team of Ella Smith on 1, Abbie Leeves on 2 and
Niamh Milmo on the final leg combined well to finish 38th team. Showing our
strength in depth Olivia Berry led the in complete C team off on leg 1.

Two solid teams ran in the U15 girls race and Millie
Smith got the A team off to a good start in 20th, Grace Scopes picked up 5
places handing over to Yasmine Marghini in 15th. Yasmine clawed a few places
back to finish in a great 11th place. The B team of Lily Tappenden, Madalina
Samoila back from injury and Issy Bridge collectively finished 32nd in the
most competitive age group.

The U15 boys also had two complete teams and the A
team of Joseph Georgiadis, Callum Myatt and Coleman Corry finished well in
29th place and the B team of Cameron Swatton, Charlie Andrews and Billy Keen
finished 63rd.

BBHAC U13 boys won the National title last year and
our current boys, mostly first years, did well to finish 21st and 60th in
the team competition but are looking strong for next year in the same age
group. Sam Reardon led the team off in superb form (running the 10th fastest
time of the day) handing over to Thomas Penlington who ran well passing to
Alex Sibley, running in his first National, on the last leg.

The ever improving Ethan Kitteridge had a strong run
leading the B team off, passing to National debutant Nicholas Paddington,
who handed over to Barnaby Corry bringing the team home.

The senior men finished in 9th place of the 91 teams.
Led off by Alex Gibbins, he handed to Alex Bruce Littlewood who cut through
the field to finish 31st in 15.48, Phil Sesemann moved the team up to 14th
with 15.24 with Scott Overall running 15.32 to bring it home in 9th and less
than 2 minutes behind the winners.

The senior ladies represented by Elaine Rayner, Carole
Penlington and Jane Bradshaw finished 38th of the 102 teams for a solid team
performance.

The next Kent league fixture is our home fixture at
Sparrows Den on November 7th and also incorporates our Club Championship,
medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd BB in each race.

Nick Brooks/Paul Austridge

27/10/15

BBHAC build on great
Kent League start at Tonbridge

At Tonbridge the Club
enjoyed another excellent set of results at the second Kent League fixture
of the season under mild and damp conditions. They were the first team in
three of the eight age group races and there were three individual winners.
The tremendous team spirit and mutual support given by the athletes is
already making this into a great winter season.

The senior men were the
third team scoring 6 athletes and second in the race scoring 12 athletes,
with the women finishing second in the 3 to score event but only 4 points
behind Paddock Wood, but winning the 6 scoring event.

Niamh Bridson-Hubbard
ran superbly by going one better than last time to win the ladies race in
18.36 backed up by Elaine Rayner (19.20) in 2nd to improve by two
places on the previous time and Sarah Belaon in 19th place with 21.54. The
team were well backed up with Sara Elmqvist in 23rd, Lorna Clowes
in 27th, Samantha Leighton in 28th and Jessica Jones in 35th
enabling the team to win the 6 scoring team event by a massive 86 points as
a bonus. Alex Bruce-Littlewood’s return to form gave him 4th
place in the senor men’s race followed Danny Brewer in 20th
followed by Alex Gibbons in 24th, Gareth Evans 36th, Fintan
Parkinson 38th, Thomas Desborough 40th, Dan Kennedy 44th,
Jonathan Vintner 50th, Colin Norris 57th, Chris Tuck
74th, Richard Byford 106th and Steve Pairman 113th
rounding out the scoring team. and. 6 other athletes finished to enable us
to show a great strength in depth again.

There was an outstanding
team performance in the under 17 womens race as Jessica Keene was 3rd
again, Kelsey Fuss 4th and Yasmin Austridge 5th,
enabling them to win the team race with 12 points and well backed up with
Amy Leach 6th, Georgina Taylor in 10th, and Chloe Kibblewhite
14th.

The under 17 men saw the
team finish in third place led home by Marco Arcuri who was 5th
in 17.53, Lewis Mills 8th and James Crawley 19th
completing the scoring team with Frankie Scrivener, Oscar Hussey and Harry
Keene chasing them home.

The under 15 boys team
were third team, led home by Joseph Georgiadis in 4th, Callum
Myatt 14th and Charlie Andrews 15th. Over the next two
minutes BBHAC managed to finish another 7 runners so again great packing by
the athletes making the scoring positions that much more competitive as
although third in the team race they had 33 points, the same as second
placed Invicta.

In the under 15s age
group the girls enjoyed second place but only one point behind winners
Medway courtesy of Mille Smith in 2nd, Kelsie Cornish in 5th,
Grace Scopes in 7th. Strength in depth was again on show in this
age group as Lily Tappenden finished 16th, Imogen Meers 25th,
Isabelle Bridge 26th, and Zoe Austridge 31st.

More good results came
in the under 13 boys race as Rowan Fuss won again by a massive 56 seconds
margin to lead the team home to second. He was backed up by Sam Reardon in 5th,
Jake Leng in 16th, Thomas Penlington in 22nd, Alex Sibley 23rd,
Ethan Kitteridge in 28th, Nicholas Paddington 40th,
Barnaby Corry in 48th and Charles Winton 51st.

Team wise most
impressive of the day yet again were the under 13 girls who came in 1st,
4th and 5th to win the team event with Ellie Dolby
winning the race in 9.38 backed up by Jessica Neal in 4th with
9.55 and Morgan Squibb in 5thth in 9.56 to add to their previous
success two weeks earlier. Again the team was well backed up with 7 more
athletes enabling us to finish 8 athletes in the top 30.

The
next races take place at Danson Park on November 28th.

Elsewhere BBHAC had a strong representation at the Beachy Head marathon.

Pos

Bib

Firstname

Lastname

Gender

Gender Pos

Chip Time

Gun Time

38

560

Luca

Ercolani

M

34

3:35:54.40

3:35:57.60

43

1372

Carole

Penlington

F

5

3:38:55.80

3:38:59.70

85

496

Bryan

Donnelly

M

70

3:50:44.40

3:50:48.10

120

52

Clayton

Aves

M

100

3:58:25.00

3:58:28.60

142

1812

Alexis

Tobin

M

118

4:02:41.15

4:03:47.40

247

121

Stuart

Bayley-Dainton

M

206

4:19:15.40

4:19:50.35

266

1476

Glen

Read

M

220

4:21:13.90

4:21:53.70

338

1284

Jennifer

Neal

F

60

4:30:03.60

4:30:21.25

568

1643

William

Slack

M

446

4:55:23.50

4:56:19.60

919

1201

Deniz

Mehmed

M

660

0

5:41:01.65

And
finally at the BMAF National XC relays the BBHAC over 65s ran superbly at
Long Eaton Derby to take 2nd place. Led off by Peter Hamilton (12.50), then
Rob Brown (12.58) and anchored by Bob Minting (12.24) the club finished 15
seconds down on Rotherham for a great result in a national event.

Nick Brooks

20/10/15

5 Mile
Cross Country Championship at Hayes

Thirty six runners
completed the championship on Sunday on a nice mild morning with good
underfoot conditions.

Fintan Parkinson won the
race in a new course record of 29.13, with an outstanding run by 16 year old
Marco Arcuri for second in 31.20, followed in third with another brilliant
performance by 14 year old Coleman Corry in 31.40.

First lady to finish was
16 year old Jessica Keene in 7th place with 33.55, followed in 24th place by
Sarah Belaon in 38.26 and youngster Yasmin Austridge the third lady
finishing in 26th place with 39.30.

On the handicap the
first three to finish were Ian Taylor, Mick Jones and Iain Swatton but with
a handicap spread of 5.52 it would suggest not everybody ran to their
potential as ideally a short time period should cover the entire field,
still it is early in the season.

Next week sees BBHAC
return to action in the Kent League at Tonbridge.

Nick Brooks

13/10/15

Great start to the Kent
League season for BBHAC at Swanley

At Swanley the Club
enjoyed an excellent set of results at the opening Kent League fixture of
the season just as we did last year. They were the first team in three of
the eight age group races and had two individual winners. No doubt some of
this success was due to the tremendous team spirit and mutual support given
by the athletes. If the season continues in this manner it will be another
great Winter.

The Senior men were the
second team scoring 6 athletes but won the race scoring 12 athletes and the
women finished first in both the 3 and 6 scoring event. Niamh Bridson
Hubbard ran superbly to finish 2nd backed up by Elaine Rayner in
4th and Carol Penlington in 6th in the womens race and she was
the first veteran. The team were well backed up with Sophie Kelleher in 12th,
Sara Elmqvist in 21st, Danielle Crithchley in 31st and
Jessica Jones in 33rd. Danny Brewer was our first man in 12th
followed by Alex Gibbons in17th, Ross Braden in 25th, Gareth
Evans 28th, Dan Kennedy 36th and Thomas Desborough 51st.
10 other athletes finished to enable us to win the 12 man event.

A low turn out in the
under 20s races saw Charlotte Rhule finish 3rd while Bertie
Harrington was 7th in the mens race .

There was more fine
packing in the under 17 womens race as Jessica Keene was 3rd, Yasmin
Austridge 4th, Amy Leach 5th and Kelsey Fuss 6th.
The team were first while Georgina Taylor in 8th, Joanna Clowes 12th,
Shannon Riskey 19th, and Chloe Kibblewhite 20th all made the top 20.

The under 15 boys team
were second, led home by Joseph Giorgiadis in 4th, Michael
Eagling 17th and Callum Myatt 18th. Over the next two
minutes BBHAC managed to finish another 11 runners so again great packing by
the athletes making the scoring positions that much more competitive.

In the under 15s age
group the girls enjoyed second place courtesy of Mille Smith in 2nd, Kelsie
Cornish in 6th, Stephanie Taylor in 9th and Gracie
Scopes in 11th. Emphasising the strength in depth the Club has in
this age group Lily Tappenden finished 16th, Alice Prentice 25th,
Isabelle Bridge 29th, Claudia Pickup 31st and Zoe
Austridge 33rd.

More good results came
in the under 13 boys race as Rowan Fuss won by 34 seconds to lead the team
home to second. He was backed up by Sam Reardon in 7th, Thomas
Penlington in 14th, Alex Sibley 26th, Charles Winton
37th, Ethan Kitteridge in 46th and Barnaby Corry in 47th.

Teamwise most impressive
of the day were the under 13 girls who came in 1st, 5th
and 7th to win the team event with Ellie Dolby winning the race
backed up by Jessica Neal in 5th and Morgan Squibb in 7th
to prove their run the previous week at the National Road Relays was no
fluke. Again the team was well backed up with 7 more athletes enabling us to
finish 9 in the top 30.

The
next races take place at Tonbridge in two weeks time.

Nick Brooks

6/10/15

National Road Relay Finals - 2nd
place for under 13 Girls and 3rd for the under 15 Girls teams

The relay season continued with
BBHAC travelling to Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham over the weekend for the
National Road Relays with over 40 athletes competing for the club.

The under 13 girls team were
magnificent with Jessica Neal running a 15:04 leg to set us on the way with
Morgan Squibb 15:28 and Ellie Dolby running 14:36 for the fourth fastest
leg of the day bringing the team home in 2nd place and only 20
seconds down on the winners Wreake & Soar Valley AC. The B team of Emily
Davis, Daniella Harper and Niamh Milmo closed in a respectable 35th
position out of the 59 teams finishing.

The under 15 girls were also
outstanding finishing 3rd out of the 59 teams with Yasmin
Marghini 14:02, Sophie Hoare 14.32 and Mille Smith 14:47, with the team
having led the race after leg one. The B team of Stephanie Taylor, Gracie
Horton and Grace Scopes ran solidly for 36th position, while the
C team of Alice Prentice, Claudia Pickup and Lily Tappenden were not far
behind in 48th place.

The under 17 ladies team only just
missed out on the bronze medals by 11 seconds with Amy Leach running 14:47,
followed by Katy Ann McDonald running 13:43 for the second fastest leg of
the day and bringing the team up 18 places into 2nd, with Kelsey
Fuss closing the team in 4th in 14:22 for an outstanding team
performance among the 37 finishing teams. Carlotta Wetzel and Shannon Riskey
ran for the B team but without a third athlete were unable to complete the
race.

The under 15 boys saw BBHAC field
three teams, the A team of Coleman Corry, Joseph Georgiadis and Henry Cowie
finishing a commendable 11th, the B team of Cameron Swatton,
Callum Myatt and Keir Lundy finishing 45th closely followed by
the C team of Benjamin Gardner, Leo Braden and Lewis Warren in 48th.

The under 17s were unable to
complete a team but Marco Arcuri and Charlie Davis started the race.

The senior mens team who had
performed well to reach the final were off to a great start with Alex Bruce-Littlewood
completing the first leg in 18th place in a time of 17:59 but
only 42 seconds down on the leaders. William Fuller 18:14 and only a minute
down on the leaders ran a strong leg followed by Andy Rayner with a leg of
21:44, Danner Brewer with 19:44, Richard Webb 19:39 and Tom Desborough
bringing the team home to finish in 44th place overall, a very
respectable team performance of the 69 finishing teams considering BBHAC had
slipped back in the 50s at one stage only to rally at the end. Local rivals
Tonbridge AC ensured that the trophy came to Kent as they won the team relay
from Derby AC by a narrow 5 second margin.

The senior ladies team began well
with Elaine Rayner bring BBHAC back on the first leg in 15:31 for 23rd
place and handing over to Amber Reed who ran strongly with 16:23 and holding
onto 24th place. Unfortunately on this day BBHAC were unable to
field another two athletes to complete the 4 leg race and although both
athletes ran outstandingly our race ended prematurely at this stage.